5 Steps to a Great Cause and Effect Essay

Feb 02, 2017 in Writing Assistance

Essay writing is a complicated business, especially if you are just starting your academic career. There are so many things to consider. What does your professor expect to see? How do you cite the resources you’ve uncovered during your thorough research? How and where does you conduct your research?

However, all these pale in comparison when one looks at all different types of essays. It may seem impossible to distinguish between all of them. Thankfully, there is a trick that helps one adjust to essay writing. Instead of trying to tackle all kinds of writing at once, a student should concentrate on each type one by one. Today, we will talk about the steps one should take in order to create an exemplary cause and effect essay.

Learn what a Cause and Effect Essay Is

Before doing any research on the topic of your essay, examine the general requirements for this type of writing. While it may seem that the term “cause and effect” essay is self-explanatory, reading a couple of the articles before starting any work may turn out to be useful and tell you a lot about the structure you should adhere to or even the paragraphs and common phrases you could use.

Make Sure You Understand Your Topic

Describing causes and effects of each situation requires a profound understanding of the events. This is why this type of writing is popular in academia; it leads to the development of analytical thinking. Communicate with your professor and find out what additional sources of information you might use. This will not only give you an advantage when writing, but will also demonstrate how serious you are to your tutor.

Visualize

After you have gathered enough information, it is time to structure it in your head. There are several visualization techniques popular among students. Some students draw diagrams, others are satisfied with simple charts. Use the Internet to find out more ways to prepare yourself for writing and choose the ones that work best. This step is very important as it helps with several things at the same time: eliminating less important factors, differentiating between the causes and the effects, determining the scope, etc.

Make an Outline

Some people skip this step, but it is much easier to spend a minute planning what you will write, instead of doing multiple revisions. Formulate your thesis statement, prepare an introduction and a conclusion, and determine what each of your paragraphs will be about. It is also helpful to decide early on what your purpose in writing the essay is: do you want to simply present the information to your readers or persuade them?

Write

After all the preparatory steps you’ve taken, the rest what is left will be the easiest. Just follow your outline and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck!